The Agile Coffee Podcast

Vic is joined by Zach Bonaker (@ZachBonaker) and Larry Lawhead (@LarryLawhead) at the Cape Rey in Carlsbad for a lively morning of Agile and Coffee.

In this episode, our Agile heroes discuss:

Eight-minute talks

Why companies lose Scrum focus

Power of Metaphor

What have you been reading lately?

Here's the long list of books that Larry started and Zach and I added to:

The Toyota Way - by Jeffery Liker

The Toyota Way to Lean Leadership - by Jeffery Liker, Gary L. Convis

The Spirit of Kaizen - by Leigh Ann Hirschmann, Bob Mauer

The Lean Startup - by Eric Ries

Kanban: The Kanban Guide - by Paul VII

The Innovator’s Dilemma - by Clayton Christensen

The Wisdom of Crowds - by James Surowiecki

Leaders Eat Last - by Simon Sinek

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team - Patrick Lencioni

Coaching Agile Teams - Lyssa Adkins

The Art of Thought - Graham Wallas

Larry has also been viewing a lot of webinars in Scrum Inc’s “Scrum Lab” with his prime membership, but there is also a lot of stuff on their "Scrum Lab Open” (click “Online Learning”).

Reach out to Vic (@AgileCoffee) and use the hashtag #tellAgileCoffee to interact with us on an upcoming episode.

Events:

Come join us for two days of conversation at the San Diego Agile Open this February 25 & 26. More info online at agileopencalifornia.com/san_diego.html

Want more? You got it! Four days of focused, team-based learning at the Scrum Coaching Retreat in San Diego from March 13-16. More info online at www.scrumalliance.org/scrum-coaching-retreat-san-diego-2016

Hi, Hello and Happy 2016!

Back from our hiatus, Vic is once again joined by Jon Jorgensen (@WaterScrumBan), Zach Bonaker (@ZachBonaker) and Garrett Borunda (LinkedIn) at the Cape Rey in Carlsbad for a lively morning of Agile and Coffee.

In this episode, our Agile heroes discuss:

What to do at the first bump in the road

Which practices would you eliminate?

Thinking big and small

Reach out to Vic (@AgileCoffee) and use the hashtag #tellAgileCoffee to interact with us on an upcoming episode.

announcements:

Come join us for two days of conversation at the San Diego Agile Open this February 25 & 26. More info online at agileopencalifornia.com/san_diego.html

Want more? You got it! Four days of focused, team-based learning at the Scrum Coaching Retreat in San Diego from March 13-16. More info online at www.scrumalliance.org/scrum-coaching-retreat-san-diego-2016

The podcast is taking a short hiatus and will resume with episode 39 by the end of 2015. In the meantime, listeners are encouraged to check out the new decks of Agile Coffee Conversation Starter cards (volumes 1 - 3) online at agilecoachingcards.com

Happy holidays, and we'll talk soon :)

Recorded live from the Agile Open SoCal (Irvine, California), Victor (@AgileCoffee) is joined by three new guests: Aaron Griffith (@Aaron_Griffith), Colleen Kirtland (@CSKirtland) and Brock Nunn (@BANunn). In addition to general comments about the Open Space event, we also discuss:

Mob Programming and the Anti-Sprint Invasion

Were you surprised at the Agile Open?

The Importance of Culture and Behaviors in Agile

Agile for Social Betterment

If you missed the SoCal open space, consider attending Agile Open Northern California on October 9 & 10. More info at agileopencalifornia.com.

LAST CHANCE to get your card included into Vol.3 of the Agile Coffee Conversation Starters. Visit kickstarter.com/projects/770793397/agile-coaching-cards before Thursday 9/24.

A very special guest introduces episode 37, and you can see her on video at Kickstarter.

On this episode Vic is joined by Curtis Gilbert, Larry Lawhead (@LarryLawhead) & Brett Palmer (@brett_palmer) to discuss topics from volume II of the Agile Coffee Conversation Starters. We dove into:

Personal Kanban in Daily Life

Thomas Leonard's The Nine Environments of You

Trello (online kanban tool)

Can PMs be Good SMs?

How does Agile Change People?

Liftoff by Diana Larsen and Ainsley Nies

Power of the SM

Our Professional Development

books on audio / book summaries: Audible, Safari, Scribd, Blinkest

What are these Agile Coffee decks? We've assembled the best and most-popular topics from our podcasts and local meetups, and we created two decks of casino-quality playing cards. These decks are helpful for groups wanting start their own lean coffee meetups, or for anyone with a desire to start conversations. Visit our kickstarter page before Sept 24 to become a backer, and stop by agilecoachingcards.com to see some nifty photos and find out more about these and other decks.

Reach out to Vic (@AgileCoffee) on Twitter and use the hashtag #tellAgileCoffee to interact with us on an upcoming episode.

On July 25th, another successful 5Saturdays program wrapped up at Estancia HS in Costa Mesa, CA, and twelve students shared their takeaways with me on the podcast. These high-school-aged participants talked about the lessons learned over their five weekend sessions, focusing on job readiness and effective communications.

Topics discussed include:

applications of creative thinking

tools for critical thinking

facets of agility using Scrum

resume-building and interviewing skills

Our setup in the library of Estancia HS

One central theme that students spoke of was their interest in using personal kanban in their everyday lives, having recognized its ease and usefulness in planning.

I was happy to have met and talked with these students. They each agreed that they found high utility in the five-week course, and their understanding and appreciation of Scrum and Agile concepts was immediately apparent in our conversation.

I want to once again thank all student participants and wish them the best of luck as they finish their high school journeys armed with this new knowledge and unique experience.

 

Have you heard about the Agile Coffee decks of cards? We've assembled the best and most-popular topics from our podcasts and local meetups, and we created two decks of casino-quality playing cards. These decks are helpful for groups wanting start their own lean coffee meetups, or for anyone with a desire to start conversations. Visit our kickstarter page before Sept 24 to become a backer, and stop by agilecoachingcards.com to see some nifty photos and find out more about these and other decks.

Reach out to Vic (@AgileCoffee) on Twitter and use the hashtag #tellAgileCoffee to interact with us on an upcoming episode.

Victor is joined by Jon Jorgensen (@waterScrumBan) and Ryan Ripley (@RyanRipley) of the excellent Agile for Humans podcast for a double-sized, ultra packed episode of Agile Coffee for Humans.

In this episode, our Agile heroes discuss:

The HR Side of Agile - Performance Reviews, Raises, & Transparency

The Business of Agile - How we justify the investment in agility

Ken's Complaint -Trademarking Scrum Group

Crossing the line - push and pulling hair

Organisational Psychotherapist, the new coach - a reflection on Bob Marshall's Why Me?

Agile Transformation - The REST of the story (like Paul Harvey)

Agile games, simulations and learning activities - see my post on games

Holding Space article by Heather Plett

book: Crucial Conversations by Patterson, et al

Reach out to Vic (@AgileCoffee) on Twitter and use the hashtag #tellAgileCoffee to interact with us on an upcoming episode.

Victor is joined by Dale Ellis (@theDigitalDale) and Larry Lawhead (@LarryLawhead) on a beautiful SoCal morning for Agile and Coffee.

In this episode, our Agile heroes discuss:

Limits to transperency

Project reporting (is the Burndown enough?)

Mandated documentation in Agile

Project definition phase

Getting teams to behave like teams

Engaging the non-participative team member

Reach out to Vic (@AgileCoffee) on Twitter and use the hashtag #tellAgileCoffee to interact with us on an upcoming episode.

Lean Coffee recorded in Seattle, June 24, 2015

Vic (@AgileCoffee) attended the Scrum Alliance's fourth Scrum Coaching Retreat in the USA. It was three days of examination of what it means to be a coach in a scrum environment and how we can improve our coaching methods worldwide.

In the first two days, participants had the opportunity to pitch a project they wished to focus on. Everyone then joined a project team and organized using scrum processes and roles. We had three sprints (spanning the two days) in which to iterate and increment on a delivery of our final products. The final day was devoted to an Open Space event and a closing retrospective.

One of the projects created can be found at AgileLeadershipToolkit.com. I'll make others available once I receive explicit permission and links from their creators.

Special kudos go out to Stewart Young (@Stuartliveart) of illustrationstation.co.uk for completing some amazing artwork throughout the three days.

Vic hosted a lean coffee during Open space on the third day, and he was joined by:

Dan Fuller of SolutionsIQ

CeeDee Doyle of Assurity in New Zealand

Kelley Harris(@mkelleyharris) of SourceCell

Max Lamers (@maxlamers)

Jeff Nielsen of RMC Learning Solutions

Dave Cornelius (@DrCorneliusInfo) of 5saturdays

Topics included:

Overcoming team dysfunctions at the Scrum Coaching Retreat

Alternative formats for a three-day retreat

How to do podcasts (see below)

PO coaching beyond the basics

Impact Mapping

Value proposition for coaching vs just training

For more information on retreats

Links to previous (and upcoming) Coaching Retreats in the USA:

Boulder, CO - Dec 7-9, 2011

Chandler, AZ - Dec 4-6, 2013 - archive of projects

Raleigh (Chapel Hill), NC - Oct 28-30, 2014

Seattle, WA - June 22-24, 2015

Irvine, CA - Spring 2016

Podcasting Tools and Techniques

I produce my shows old school - by gathering participants in a room and recording with a bunch of mics. (I have a degree in audio engineering, so I'm a bit of an audiophile.) It's fun, and nothing beats the face-to-face communication with all its nuances and clarity. We meet about twice a month in a mostly quiet space, and it takes my about 10-15 minutes to set up the equipment and do a quick check of levels.

For these bigger on location recording (from 4 to 6 attendees), I use a Behringer X1222 mixing board and Audio Technica ATR2100 or similar mics, plug it into my laptop and be good. [None of these links are affiliate links - just plain links to Amazon.] When it's only a few of us, I'll just bring my Zoom H5 handy recorder to blug mics in to - no need to lug my laptop around. In my home studio where it's only me, I either plug my mic into the laptop or go through a smaller Behringer Xenyx mixer.

For post-production I use the free software Audacity (for PC). It does everything I need; I only do a minor amount of editing, and I like to tweak the levels somewhat. I export the file as MPEG Layer 3 (.mp3) format and load it into my local iTunes to enter the metadata (pretty much just cut-and-paste from a template). Then it's time to upload to my audio host. Libsyn costs about $12 / month, but you can get a cheaper plan with them (or free elsewhere) if you podcast less frequently (I post at least two Agile Coffee podcasts a month and sometimes other projects as well). Libsyn also provides download stats. When it's time to announce the new episode, the

Victor (@AgileCoffee) participated in Scrum Day San Diego and interviewed a number of participants, including the winners of the Agile San Diego usergroup's annual Agile Awards. Congratulations to Joe Dailey (winner of the Agilist of the Year, 2014) and to ID Analytics (recipient of the 2014 Agile San Diego Team Excellence Award). Also Dr. Dave Cornelius (@DrCorneliusInfo) and his son, Dave, accepted a gift on behalf of the 5Saturdays initiative which introduces Scrum to high school students.

Over 100 Scrum enthusiasts gathered on June 12th, 2015 in San Diego County to advance their understanding on how to launch Agile projects successfully. The theme of this second annual Scrum Day was “Well Begun is Half Done”, and featured speakers included Tirrell Payton, Marcelo Fernandez, Lauren Feehrer and Niv Genchel. Diana Larsen delevered a powerful keynote address on the topic of Lift-Offs and Agile Chartering, and a panel moderated by conference organizer Carlton Nettleton fielded questions from participants.

For more information on that event, visit scrumdaysandiego.com

Zach Bonaker (@ZachBonaker), Brett Palmer (@Brett_Palmer) & Vic discuss the value of Scrum Day

Zach talks about entering into, guaging success of, and gracefully exiting coaching engagements

Vic asks the Dave Corneliuses (both of them) about the honorarium awarded to 5Saturdays

Members from ID Analytics, the Agilist Team of 2014, share their path to success with Scrum

Joe Dailey, recipient of Agilist of 2014, discusses his successes in the workplace and the community

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Coming up in episode 33 - lean coffee from Scrum Alliance's Scrum Coaching Retreat in Seattle.